Texas toast bruschetta

• frozen garlic toast Texas style
• fresh tomatoes
• fresh basil
• Balsamic vinegar

Prepare toast according to package instructions. Dice tomatoes and basil finely and blend together, taking care not to over mix. Pile tomatoes on toast and drizzle with vinegar, serve immediately.

The dish: It's pretty scary to look in someones eyes and see pure hate. It's even scarier when that person is a friend you've known most of your life; scarier still when the occasion is his wedding. Yet this happened a few weeks back, and I feel nothing but proud of my comrade. You see, the good friend is a surgeon who specializes in oncology, practicing at the prestigious Fox Chase Cancer Center. I've never seen him as happy as when he was standing next to his beautiful wife, yet when the conversation turned to work he spoke with great admiration for the doctors who have taught him, compassion for the patients he's helped, and disdain for the ugly pile of cells he pulls out of the folks on the operating table beneath him. Having lost his father at a young age to cancer he has his reasons to dislike the disease, but has channeled it using his knowledge and dedication in a way that inspires awe. Like all great doctors, I'm amazed by them and yet hope to never have the occasion to be their patient. Doing things like not smoking and using sunscreen are obvious ways to keep cancer at bay, but there's much more we can do. Eating tomatoes gives our bodies lycopene, which some studies have shown will slow the growth of certain types of cancer. I can't think of a better way to get my dose of lycopene than the festival of tomatoes that is bruschetta. I would have used fresh bread but this batch was made at the last minute using some of my sister's bumper crop (you have a green thumb- you're adopted) and we had some Hannaford garlic toast Texas style on hand. It was delicious and our bodies were better off for the offering.

PBMD

• bagel, toasted
• fresh tomato, sliced
• cream cheese
• balsamic vinegar

Prepare bagel; you can use fresh or frozen (I used Ray's frozen, which really are the best), toasted or not. Spread cream cheese on bottom half of bagel, top with tomato slices and vinegar to taste.

The dish: If you look at a map of the earth you'll notice that Japan is pretty much all the way to the right and California is way to the left. The land of the rising sun is so named because they're the first on the globe to get drenched in the fresh sunlight building from the east (this is also the reason why on New Year's Eve while we're still chilling the bubbly and wrapping the pigs in blankets, Dick Clark is cutting to shots of tired Asians that look like they've been partying awhile). By contrast, the folks in the Golden State are the last ones to roll out of bed in the morning. For this reason, through my admittedly limited research, I've come to the conclusion that Californians are more prone to an earlier and healthier lifestyle. They have no choice but to be early risers; the rest of the planet is already awake and going strong. This phenomenon can be clearly seen on the greatest show of all time, Melrose Place (the original of course, the new one premiered last night so it's too soon to tell). Although their lifestyles may not be psychologically healthy, all the young residents of LA wake early and always eat breakfast. Kim and I were watching some older re-runs of the show recently and were having fun noticing how not only does everyone always eat three squares, but those meals consist of lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. On one such episode, Dr. Peter Burns is having an early meeting with his colleague Dr. Michael Mancini, while fixing himself some breakfast in the break room of their posh office. Burns takes a cut bagel and spreads it with cream cheese and then piles on some fresh tomato slices and finishes it with some salt and pepper. I basically stole the good Dr's recipe, save the vinegar difference, but I did give him props naming it after him. Now that tomatoes are in full bloom, this is a great way to start your day like the residents of 4616 Melrose do, minus the waking up next to your ex/in-law/friend/friend's other, etc.

warm zucchini salad

• 1 lb whole wheat pasta
• fresh zucchini, cut into bite sized pieces
• balsamic vinegar
• 1 red onion, chopped fine
• dried red pepper flakes
• fresh parsley, chopped fine
• grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. In a swirl of olive oil, saute onion over a medium high flame for 3 minutes, add zucchini and pepper flakes, reduce flame to medium, stirring occasionally. After about 7 minutes add a few splashes of vinegar. Once pasta is cooked, drain and add to the zucchini, tossing to coat, adding parsley and more vinegar as needed. Serve immediately with grated cheese on top.

The dish: As Yogi Berra said, "it's like deja vu all over again". At first glance, it might look your faithful blogger hit the post button one too many times, but I beg you to read closer. If these two dishes were served in succession, I think you'd be amazed at how different they wind up tasting just by altering a few basic things. Although they were cooked as two different meals (really, look the pasta is different) this could have been a planned-over. Simply serve warm for dinner and then you've got a great cold lunch for the next day. Between the whole grain pasta and the bulk of the zucchini, you'll be amazed at how far this dish goes, which makes it easy on the wallet. Saving a few bucks in these tight times is important for all of us because as Yogi also said, "a nickel just isn't worth a dime anymore".

cold zucchini and pasta salad

• 1 lb whole wheat pasta
• fresh zucchini, cut into bite sized pieces
• fresh parsley, chopped fine
• balsamic vinegar

Cook pasta according to directions on package. About 2 minutes before finished, throw the zucchini in the pot and allow to cook until just tender. Rinse under cold water and allow to cool. Stir in good quality balsamic vinegar (I'm using some Private Harvest I got from Marshall's and it's the best I've ever had) and parsley. Refrigerate until served.

The dish: One of the original goals of starting this blog was to improve my camera skills. In addition to certain basic staging and lighting techniques, I've learned the most important rule in successful amateur digital photography: take lots of pictures. The finished product that ends up on this page (btw, if you click the above picture it takes you to a jumbo version of it) is the best of many out of focus and poorly lit attempts. I've begun a snap fish page to showcase some of the not ready for prime time shots. Feel free to check them out and let me know if you think I picked the best ones.

grilled balsamic salmon

• salmon fillet
• balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• garlic cloves
  

Marinate salmon, vinegar, olive oil and garlic for at least 3 hours. When ready to cook, wrap salmon in tin foil, discarding marinade and garlic. Grill over a low flame for about 10 minutes or until cooked. Don't be fooled, cooking it in foil won't yield the prettiest salmon, but it will taste great.

The dish: Here's the deal: I love salmon, but I'm getting sick of saying the same things about it over and over, so today I'll do something different. Instead of touting the virtues of our friend who swims upstream, I'll give some insight into why this blog has been idle most of July. As I've said before, I love to ride my mountain bike but with all the rain we've had this year it's been tough to get on the trail. I've spent a fraction of the amount of time on my bike this years as opposed to years past, which is why I think I recently forgot a valuable lesson in riding; things go best when the rubber side stays down. The stretch of trail I crashed on is so familiar to me that I often will ride through it in my mind on nights that I have trouble sleeping. I have an intimate knowledge of every twist, every hill, and every obstacle, which is why I wasn't shocked when the trail crossed the path of a wet tree root, I had ridden over it countless times before. As is the case with such things, I'm not really sure what went wrong, but my front tire bounced in a way I didn't expect it to and I had an immediate yet brief sensation of soaring through the air, right over the front of my bicycle (impressive since my feet were still clipped to the pedals). I painfully landed face down a pretty good distance from both the trail and my bike. Without getting too graphic (you did come here to read about food after all) it was clear that my shoulder had popped out and just getting up was going to be a challenge. With the help of Kim and our friend Chris I began to roll over and miraculously (and quite audibly) my shoulder righted itself and 90% of the pain instantly went away. I was able to limp back to the car and decided to play it safe and go to the ER and have things checked out. Other than quickly dropping the bikes off, we went straight to the hospital and waited long enough to watch the movie The Minority Report (it sucked) on the TV that each emergency room bed now has (who knew?). As I suspected, nothing was broken and the hospital sent me home with my arm in a sling and a warning of pain to come the next morning. It was about 7 hours after the crash when I was finally standing in the shower and letting the hot water pound onto my traumatized joint. I didn't think much about all the elapsed time until two days later when I had an unbearable itch all over my body and my skin began to look diseased. Turns out it was a big patch of poison oak that broke my fall and I pretty much let it soak into my skin all day long. The subsequent reaction was bad enough to warrant my doctor putting me on heavy duty steroids and me trying every topical remedy I could find, which none really worked, which is good because the mind numbing itching took my focus away from my sore shoulder. Needless to say, I didn't much feel like blogging. If you want to be grossed out, feel free to check out my left leg and just picture the rest of me covered in similar bruises and red splotches. Things seemed to have turned the corner, I'm looking less like a leper with each passing day so expect to see more updates soon.

boccoli with a balsmic orange sauce

• fresh broccoli florets
• 6 garlic cloves
• 2 cups orange juice
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

In a large pan cook orange juice and garlic over high heat until it reaches a boil, reduce heat to medium high and simmer for 20 minutes or until reduced to about 1/2 cup. Meanwhile, steam broccoli until just cooked. When OJ is reduced (and if committing petty robbery in Vegas doesn't bring you down then what... never mind) add vinegar and cook for an additional 5 minutes over a medium low flame. Place cooked vinegar in bowl and strain sauce over it, discarding the garlic.

The dish: Steamed veggies are one of the greatest things you can eat, but almost nobody does without a small army of salt and butter to "dress" them up. We've been experimenting with different ways we can add flavor without adding too much bad stuff at the same time. This is a nice preparation that leaves the broccoli with a sweet and tangy taste that will make sure that you don't miss the salt and butter.

carrot and endive tossed salad in balsamic vinaigrette

• fresh leaf lettuce, cut into bite sized pieces
• plain or mixed carrots, cut on the bias
• endive, chopped fine
• fresh dill, chopped
• balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• sugar
• croutons (I used Texas Toast garlic and herb)

Combine lettuce, endive, carrots and dill. If you cannot find mixed carrots, or don't feel like paying more for them, plain works just fine. In a separate bowl whisk together equal parts vinegar and olive oil. Add sugar to taste and continue to blend. Serve salad in bowls and drizzle dressing on top.

The dish: This is the method for a basic vinaigrette. I used balsamic, but you could use sherry or champagne or any other wacky vinegar you have on hand. Where to find such succulent sounding condiments? On close out, of course. Stores like Marshall's or TJ Maxx or Home Goods are great for finding cheap and unique provisions. I've found the ones I've mentioned as well as lemon infused olive oil, orange infused olive oil, white truffle oil, raspberry champagne vinegar, Cabernet vinegar and many others. These are bottles that originally were much more than any of us would spend, but now you can have them for around $7 or less. Good vinegars can be cooked or used raw, but good oils should be reserved for when there's very little or no cooking involved. Go ahead and get the cheapest stuff you can find to saute with, but if you're going to use it as a dip or dressing splurge and pull out the good stuff.